Toy weapon for explosion of plastic material percussion caps and their extraction



Dec. 27, 1966 G. FERRI ETAL 3,293,788

IOY WEAPON FOR EXPLOSION OF PLASTIC MATERIAL PERCUSSION CAPS AND THEIR EXTRACTION Filed March 5, 1965 United States Patent M 1 Claim. 0. 42-54 This invention relates to a toy weapon adapted to explode percussion caps made up of plastic material and having a cup-like configuration, the cap having an explosive charge at the bottom thereof. The cap is caused to explode by fitting it on to a rearwardly extending plug in a gun chamber and striking the exposed bottom of the cap with a percussion hammer having a firing pin at its end.

The percussion hammer is actuated by a pre-loaded spring which is released in the usual manner by means of a trigger on the weapon.

The use of a rearwardly extending plug with a flattened end for receiving and supporting the cap in combination with a small firing pin enables the use of lower spring pre-load, thus making it easier for children to operate. Heretofore, this was difficult in instances where the end of the cap-receiving plug has a frusto-conical shape, due to the dampening elfect of the thickness of the bottom of the cap including the charge and also due to the fact that the penetration of the conical end of the plug into the charge was progressive, thus making higher spring preloads necessary.

The use of plastic materials caps decreases the anchoring capacity of the explosive substance in the same cap; this involves a serious disadvantage in the use of a conical plug, because this plug shape determines the breakdown of the explosive bead. Moreover, the unexploded residues thereof are piled in the chamber, making a sudden fire of the piled residues dangerous. The above stated disadvantages do not compensate for the advantage of using a reduced end cross-section plug, that is the advantage of a gradual combustion of the percussion substance, wherein the explosion may be gradually developed and wherein the generated gases may escape before reaching an excessively high pressure.

The invention relates to an improved toy weapon, designed for the explosion of plastic material caps, the improvement being designed to provide multiple advantages; decreasing the hammers spring load; decreasing substantially the percentage of the non-explosions, while reducing the spring load to a minimum; avoiding also the possibility of tear of the caps and consequent dangers; and of housing the cap with the lateral sides totally laid onto the seat, so as to avoid any lateral tear and gas escapement, while assuring the subsequent extraction of the caps.

The toy weapon according to the invention provides a capreceiving plug having a flat end; the percussion surface of the percussion hammer has a restricted extension or firing pin compared to the fiat end surface of the plug, and compared to the internal bottom of the cap containing the thickness or layer of the explosive substance. The percussion hammer is provided, for this purpose, with a firing pin projection designed to penetrate into the plastic material of the cap bottom. When the pin is released, it perforates said plastic material and compresses directly a restricted zone of the explosive against the plug, beginning the explosion of the powder beads; upon the occurred explosion, said pin projection engages the cap and aids the extraction thereof from the chamber, upon the rearward travel of the percussion pin, that is, when the percussion pin is armed or reset.

Patented Dec. 27, 1966 When the toy weapon is provided with a single chamber for one cap, the plug may be brought backwards in the chamber, whereby the cap penetrates into the same chamber for its entire height and is extracted upon the rearward travel of the percussion pin.

In order to assure the extraction, the pin projection has the end advantageously expanded, whereby it engages the material of the exploded cap more easily and firmly.

This arrangement enables the use of lower spring load of the hammer while assuring a higher percentage of explosions, whereby there is assured on the one hand a greater facility of arming or setting of the hammer, while on the other hand the number of non-explosions are mostly avoided.

As the plug has a flat end surface, detachments of portions of the explosive substance are avoided from the cap bottom, and the piling of the unexploded portions is prevented in the seats of the same caps.

Owing to the concentration of the percussion in a restricted zone of the explosive substance bead, and the subsequent propagation of the explosion of the rest of the powders, there is a gradual escapement of the gases, avoiding an excessive increase of pressure and restricting the eventual breakdown or tear of the rear portion of the cap and the issue of gas from behind the toy weapon. This phenomenon also determines a slight attenuation of the acoustical effect of the explosion which is practically inevitable. By the above indicated arrangement, deformations and resilient yieldings of the portion of the cap bottom not effected by the percussion pin, are allowed (conversely to what occurs in the case of a percussion pin affecting all the bottom surface), whereby there is a possibility of an elastic volume variation upon the explosion in the interior of the cap, also avoiding for this reason an increase of pressure in the interior and the consequent tearing dangers.

Moreover the use of a flat end wall plug enables the cap to be firmly held in its seat, as instead occurs when the plug is developed as a cone or a frustum-cone.

Moreover a toy weapon is set up, which besides the above indicated advantages, also offers the possibility of an automatic extraction of the exploded cap from the seat on the plug when required, upon the arming of the hammer or percussion pin; therefore-especially for single shots toy weapons, that is provided with a single seat the cap may be arranged totally embedded in the seat lateral walls, as above stated, avoiding in this way tears and gas escapements laterally from said cap, while rearwardly the hammer or percussion pin surface (from which the pin projection emerges) may effect a closing off of the rear opening of the same seat. The expanded end of the percussion pin projection may also be obtained totally or partly by means of the impacts of the end of said extension pin against the fiat socket. In this way it is possible to quickly and partly discharge the impact of the percussion pin on the surface adjacent the cap seat, positively offering the pin the possibility of penetrating through the thickness or layer of the plastic material cap bottom, to reach or substantially reach the surface of the socket end.

The present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in an embodiment. In the drawing:

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate in a longitudinal section localized to the cap seat, a particular embodiment in which the percussion pin is designed to extract the cap after completion of the firing.

According to the drawing, 11 denotes the toy weapon body, in which the chamber 12 of the cap C is formed. The plug 13 is developed with the substantially flat end surface, and said end of the plug 13 results to be rearwardly located with respect to the mouth of chamber 12, whereby the cap C is completely embedded in the same chamber. The percussion hammer 14 is provided with an extension 15, like a relatively thin pin, which is designed to tear the bottom of the cap C when the percussion pin strikes, in the direction of the arrow f of FIG. 1, the cap bottom; said extension 15, penetrating into the interior, compresses the explosive portion relating to the socket, thus initiating the total explosion. The percussion is obtained with a portion of the surface of the cap bottom and thus the spring load may be reduced. Moreover, the pin extension 15 may engage the material of the cap bottom and in the reversed movement with respect to that of the percussion, that is in the movement of the percussion pin 14 in the direction of the arrow f of FIG. 2, the cap remains engaged to the pin 15 and is extracted from chamber 12. Therefore this allows the advantage of completely introducing the cap into the seat and safely removing it after firing.

The percussion hammer 14 may be developed to have a larger surface with respect to that of the opening of the chamber 12, whereby the same percussion pin forms a rear shutter of the cap chamber, upon the percussion and thus upon the explosion.

The pin extension 15 may be developed with its end slightly expanded for a better stopping action of the cap bottom upon the extraction. This expansion may also be obtained during the use by efiect of the impact of the extension 15 onto the end surface of plug 13. A restriction to the percussion of the plug may be given by the contact of the end surface of the percussion hammer 14 on the edge surrounding the opening of chamber 12 on the body 11.

What we claim is:

In a toy weapon for exploding plastic caps having a cup-like configuration, wherein said weapon comprises a body portion having a chamber therein for receiving a cap and has a striking hammer cooperably associated with said body portion for firing said cap, the improvement comprising, a cap-receiving rearwardly extending plug mounted axially in said chamber, said plug having a flat end face for extending into and bearing against the bottom of said cap, and a firing pin extending from the face of said hammer adapted to penetrate a portion of said cap, said firing pin having a substantially constant and smaller cross-section than the transverse cross-section of the bottom outside face of said cap, said firing pin having means integral therewith in the form of an expanded head for holding the cap after penetration thereof by said pin, whereby said cap can be withdrawn from the chamber upon the retraction of the hammer and pin.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,049,828 8/1962 Mills 4254 FOREIGN PATENTS 978,114 12/1964 Great Britain. 519,321 3/1955 Italy.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

R. V. LOTTMANN, Assistant Examiner. 

